On and off-highway commercial vehicles and equipment having internal combustion engines have very high costs of engine and/or machine downtime. The internal combustion engines can have various filtration systems, including air filtration systems, fuel filtration systems, lubricant filtration systems, hydraulic fluid filtration systems, crankcase ventilation filtration systems, coolant filtration systems, and the like. Each filtration system typically includes a filter element that needs to be replaced after a designated amount of use (e.g., a designated amount of engine run time, a designated amount of miles driven, a filter capacity, etc.). Diagnosis of the condition of the engine filter elements will help make important decisions about servicing particular filter elements that are close to usable life or that have already exceeded usable life. Replacing the filter elements helps to prevent damage to the engine systems due to overloaded filters.
It is in the interest of fleet owners to synchronize service events of multiple filter elements to reduce vehicle and equipment downtime. Various filtration system monitoring systems are needed to monitor the various filter elements. Fleets managing multiple vehicles also need to monitor parts inventory (e.g., the number and type of replacement filter elements readily available to use for service). Remote filter monitoring can help making smarter inventory decisions. Current monitoring systems require additional pins available on the engine control module (“ECM”), which is expensive and difficult to implement.
The following U.S. patent applications and patents are all incorporated herein by reference in entirety.
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U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/810,946, filed Apr. 11, 2013
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U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/860,499, filed Aug. 20, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,409,446, issued Apr. 2, 2013.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/827,992, filed Mar. 14, 2013.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/586,603, filed Jun. 12, 2012.
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U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/864,694, filed Apr. 17, 2013.
U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/658,603, filed Jun. 12, 2012.